Ron Howard has blamed the disappointing box office of Solo: A Star Wars Story on an online trolling campaign.
Review aggregator sites such as Rotten Tomatoes have been the focus of negative campaigning, with The Last Jedi targeted – as also happened with Black Panther and Ghostbusters – by trolls attempting to lower its scores.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the film’s director said that, while he noticed “pushback” from the previous Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, he felt “aggressive trolling” was a crucial factor.
Industry commentators largely ascribed its failure to “franchise fatigue”, with Disney CEO Bob Iger admitting the company had made a mistake in releasing Solo only six months after The Last Jedi.